[zimpenfish]

> There is no privacy if you can't inspect it and verify that it's upholding its promises.

But unless you're a top-end OS developer AND a top-end embedded systems designer at the same time, how are you going to analyse something as complex as the iPhone and verify that?

[willstrafach]

I have done this. iOS may be closed source, but firmwares are no longer encrypted, so you can reverse engineer anything that you are curious about.

[zimpenfish]

Sure, you can see the code / source / raw binary. But actually analysing and verifying every part for security or privacy concerns - bearing in mind you have to consider all the possible interactions this code can generate - and that's before you even get to the hardware interactions - is still beyond 99% of developers, never mind normal people.

[willstrafach]

I was speaking to "There is no privacy if you can't inspect it and verify that it's upholding its promises" actually, and I probably agree with you, as your point applies just as much to open source.